Water soluble support materials for high temperature additive manufacturing applications

Abstract

A support material for use in an additive manufacturing system includes a copolymer of vinyl pyrrolidone (VP) monomers and elastomeric monomers. The elastomeric monomers and the VP monomers are covalently bonded and copolymerized. The support material is thermally stable even at temperatures above 80° C. and is disintegrable in aqueous solutions such as tap water.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for printing a three-dimensional part with an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
 providing a support material comprising a copolymer, wherein the copolymer comprises copolymerized vinyl pyrrolidone (VP) monomeric units and elastomeric monomer units covalently bonded together, wherein the elastomeric monomers are selected from the group consisting of acrylate monomers, methacrylate monomers, n-butyl acrylate monomers and combinations thereof, wherein the support material is disintegrable in an aqueous solution and provided in a media form suitable for the additive manufacturing system; and 
 processing the support material in the additive manufacturing system with a model material to print the three-dimensional part in a layer by layer manner. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  wherein the VP monomers comprise between about 15 weight percent and about 95 weight percent of the copolymer. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1  wherein the elastomeric monomers comprise between about 5 weight percent and about 85 weight percent of the copolymer. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1  and further comprising:
 immersing the part with the support material in the aqueous solution for a selected amount of time to remove the support material from the part, the aqueous selected from tap water and an aqueous solution with a pH between about pH 5 and about pH 9. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the support material further comprising one or more additives comprising a rheology modifier, an impact modifier, an elastomer and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the rheology modifier comprises between about 0.25 weight percent and about 30 weight percent of the support material. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the impact modifier is about 15% by weight or less of the weight of the support material. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the impact modifier comprises a block copolymer impact modifier, acrylic core-shell impact modifiers and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       9. A method for making a support material for an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
 copolymerizing vinyl pyrrolidone (VP) monomeric units and elastomeric monomer units covalently bonded together to form a polymeric matrix, wherein the elastomeric monomers are selected from the group consisting of acrylate monomers, methacrylate monomers, n-butyl acrylate monomers and combinations thereof, wherein the support material comprises the polymeric matrix, the support material disintegrable in an aqueous solution and provided in a media form suitable for the additive manufacturing system. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9  wherein the VP monomers comprise between about 15 weight percent and about 95 weight percent of the copolymer. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 9  wherein the elastomeric monomers comprise between about 5 weight percent and about 85 weight percent of the copolymer. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the support material further comprising one or more additives comprising a rheology modifier, an impact modifier, an elastomer and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the rheology modifier comprises between about 0.25 weight percent and about 30 weight percent of the support material. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the impact modifier is about 15% by weight or less of the weight of the support material. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the impact modifier comprises a block copolymer impact modifier, acrylic core-shell impact modifiers and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 9  and further comprising:
 immersing the part with the support material in the aqueous solution for a selected amount of time to remove the support material from the part, the aqueous selected from tap water and an aqueous solution with a pH between about pH 5 and about pH 9.